Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin today named Perry Fewell (pronounced fuel) as the team's secondary coach. He replaces Randy Edsall, who left last month to become the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech. Fewell, 35, joins the Jaguars after three seasons as the assistant head coach and defensive backs coach at Vanderbilt and following 13 years as a coach in the college ranks.
"Perry Fewell is a bright, young coach who has gained experience at the collegiate level," Coughlin said. "He will spend the next several weeks becoming familiar with our defensive schemes and our personnel in the secondary. We welcome him as a member of our staff."
Fewell said, "I'm looking forward to working for coach Coughlin on his staff. I'm excited about the challenge I'll have coaching the secondary, and I'm anxious to get to Jacksonville."
At Vanderbilt, Fewell served under head coach Woody Widenhofer, a long-time NFL assistant coach who was the linebackers and secondary coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers for their last three Super Bowl victories. "He's ready (for the NFL)," Widenhofer said. "Perry has done a great job for us. He is a terrific, bright guy."
Fewell's first coaching assignment came in 1985 as a graduate assistant coach at North Carolina, where he worked with the wide receivers and running backs. He left North Carolina to work one season as the defensive backs coach at Army and he then spent four seasons (1988-91) coaching at Kent State. He returned to Army in 1992 to coach the defensive line for three seasons before moving to Vanderbilt in 1995.
A native of Gastonia, N.C., Fewell attended South Point High School in Belmont, N.C., where he was a standout on both the football and track teams. He went on to letter four years as a defensive back at Lenoir-Rhyne College from 1981 to '84, graduating in 1985.
